


予想外の状況（An Unseen Circumstance）

by xLightningToki



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 19:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13724811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLightningToki/pseuds/xLightningToki
Summary: It was a rare occurrence to hear Kazuma laugh. It was a nice laugh, really. The way he threw back his head as he fought off happy tears was a joyful sight, for Chrono usually didn’t see Kazuma so jubilant before. The poor boy had suffered enough under the hands of the Onimaru household; he didn’t deserve more.





	予想外の状況（An Unseen Circumstance）

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Cardfight!! Vanguard G or any of its elements whatsoever; just this story.  
> ※Please do not reprint without my permission.※

Shindō Chrono was always a lucky child. He would win almost every single card fight against his opponent, he was athletic, and he had the best friends anyone could ask for. And because he was so lucky, he could basically do almost anything if he put his mind to it. (In fact, people had said that if they earned one hundred yen for every time he “crit-sacked” them in a card fight—in other words, getting enough critical trigger cards when trying to boost his other cards’ power—they would be able to afford a large lunch for themselves and their friends.)

　　Making Shōji Kazuma laugh, however, was _not_ one of them.

　　Oh, Chrono knew him ever since the beginning of high school. The two boys were eerily similar in terms of personality—they both spoke with an air of levity even to some adults, and they were also former riotous delinquents who had no problem beating up someone twice their size (and thus they were infamous for their fearsome fractiousness). Despite these odds, they had somewhat managed to get along. Maybe it was because they were both passionate Vanguard players, or maybe it was because they could understand each other’s feelings and situations; Chrono couldn’t really tell.

　　Right, he should explain why he and Kazuma used to be delinquents. The thing was, they had terrible childhoods, so to speak. Chrono’s mother passed away after he was born, and his father Rive had disappeared when Chrono was young, so the redhead had been sent to an orphanage until his aunt Mikuru was old enough to take him in. Chrono was quite unaffected by all of these circumstances; he acted as a lone wolf before making real friends in middle school. Kazuma, on the other hand, had a stepbrother who was supposed to become the heir of the Onimaru family business, but Kazuma and his mother were practically thrown out of the household, leaving his stepbrother Kazumi devastated. Hence, Kazuma grew up with a tragic inferiority complex.

　　Even though Chrono had reunited with his father and Kazuma with Kazumi, Chrono still acknowledged the fact that Kazuma never had a happy life to begin with. That explained his aloof personality and his unwillingness to become close to people. In fact, he was always imperceptibly addressing people by their last names as a sign of formality. Chrono was at least glad that the other boy had the guts to call him by his first name after the dreadful “Apostle incident”, which Chrono would rather not talk about because the memories always made him burst into tears.

　　It was a rare occurrence to hear Kazuma laugh. It was a nice laugh, really. The way he threw back his head as he fought off happy tears was a joyful sight, for Chrono usually didn’t see Kazuma so jubilant before. The poor boy had suffered enough under the hands of the Onimaru household; he didn’t deserve more.

　　Which was why Chrono wanted to make him laugh more often. Alas, all of his efforts to do so were utterly abortive. That boy was way too brooding and sarcastic. He couldn’t even take a mere epigram seriously.

　　There was one time when Chrono _almost_ succeeded, and that was when he and Kazuma were in a local restaurant playing Vanguard while waiting for their orders. Kazuma was just about to perform a Stride Generation, chanting “Devour! Until you seize the world you are seeking!” as he threw down his card to perform a stride…

　　And that was when their waiter arrived with their lunch, and Chrono used this opportunity to repeat Kazuma’s chant after the latter commented on how delicious the food looked.

　　He thought that he heard a snicker, but he nearly blacked out after Kazuma, in a peremptory fit of embarrassment, kicked deep into his leg from under the table, resulting in a hideous bruise. So much for hearing his laugh. He missed out on everything!

　　Still, no matter what, Chrono wished that Kazuma could be genuinely amused for once. But would he ever get the chance to witness that…?

* * *

Turned out that he could.

　　Today was his aunt’s birthday, so Chrono was in the kitchen, planning to bake a cake for her as a sign of appreciation for taking care of him. Rive had convinced Mikuru to go shopping while Chrono invited his friends Kazuma and Asukawa Taiyō to help him prepare for the festivities. (Well, more like _begged_ them to come over, but they agreed in the end, so that was enough, right?)

　　To be frank, Chrono rarely invited anyone over to his place. After all, he lived in a tiny apartment while everyone else had a decently-sized house (for Kiba Shion, a sprawling mansion with servants and gigantic gardens). His friends had already expressed concern over his living conditions, but Chrono just brushed them off. Thankfully, they didn’t press him further, but Chrono still felt a bit uneasy for some reason.

　　Amidst his thoughts, the red-haired boy watched his father stumble across the pitifully desolate living room as he hung colorful banners onto the ceiling. It wouldn’t have been too surprising if Chrono felt a little scornful of Rive for leaving him for so many years, but being so kind-hearted, he could never bring himself to despise his father. But the Onimaru family? Kazumi was the only one he could respect. The others sounded like complete jerks.

　　He was in the middle of gathering all of the necessary ingredients for the cake when he heard his apartment door creak upon. His sharp emerald eyes lit up when they met with those of tranquil violet and stormy gray.

　　Taiyō had bustled into the kitchen, his brown locks flying and his cheeks glowing pink as he sprinted towards Chrono and gave him an affectionate hug. “Chrono-san! We made it!” he exclaimed.

　　“Yes, you did!” Chrono chuckled, ruffling the younger boy’s hair. “I’m really glad you guys came to help.”

　　“Of course,” Kazuma replied gruffly, his tone seemingly supercilious and prideful as he sauntered into the kitchen, but his silver eyes were unobtrusively twinkling with mirth. “I’m surprised that you expect us to extemporize for your aunt’s birthday. You know we have no experience on baking.”

　　“Oh, shush, you. This is supposed to be fun! You wouldn’t want to stay cooped up in your house doing nothing, would you?”

　　“Ha!” The blue-haired boy’s response was dry and languid, but he didn’t argue. Then after a second of standing there idly, he said, “So?”

　　“What?”

　　“What do you want us to do?” His hands were on his hips as his eyes wandered about, observing the tidy kitchen. Mikuru was always busy working outside, so it was mostly Chrono who went on errands and cooked and cleaned. As humiliating as it seemed at the time, Chrono took great pride in his work, for it meant that he could fend for himself without too much adult supervision.

　　“Ah, right.” Chrono shifted. “Just hold on for a second… Oh, right! I’ve just finished preparing dinner, so would you mind putting the food in the microwave for me?”

　　“Sure.” He heard a barely audible grunt as Kazuma placed the dishes in the microwave. “Anything else?”

　　“Come to me when you’re done, and I’ll teach you the basics of baking. Taiyō, can you see if we still have flour? I’m starting to run out.”

　　“Right away, Chrono-san!” The purple-eyed boy was gone in a flash, leaving the two older boys alone in the room.

　　Then Chrono turned his head, grinning at Kazuma, who had just slammed the microwave door closed. “ _So…_ ” he drawled, leaning forward. “Do you think you can follow whatever I say, Kazuma? I am a professional, after all.”

　　Kazuma simply smirked, obviously taking that as a challenge. “You underestimate me. Bring it on, prof.”

* * *

The two boys had spent the next quarter of an hour bantering, bickering and discussing the ingredients and preparation for the cake. Chrono was incredibly patient as he helped Kazuma crack and beat eggs, prepare dough, and calculate how much of each ingredient was necessary for the cake.

　　By then, their aprons, as well as the countertops and the floor, were completely covered in puffy flour and puddles of water. It was practically a pigsty, and _boy_ , did Chrono have so much cleaning to do before Mikuru returned home. But at least Kazuma was having fun.

　　Speaking of which, where did Taiyō go?

　　At that moment, Chrono and Kazuma turned around when they heard a small grunt, and their eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when they saw the short boy carrying two hefty bags of flour (each about two-thirds of his height) as he struggled to march into the kitchen. Rive was standing by the vacant doorway, a grin creeping onto his face as he watched Taiyō’s unsuccessful efforts to heave the bags into the room.

　　“Ugh…” Taiyō’s breaths came out in short, tired wisps, and the other boys noticed beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. “Ha… I found the flour, Chrono-san, Kazuma-san!” he announced triumphantly.

　　Chrono was about to ask what was going on when Kazuma spoke for him: “Jeez, what the heck happened to you?”

　　“N-nothing! They’re just a bit heavy, th-that’s all.” One of the bags was slipping from Taiyō’s arms, and he shifted to keep it upright. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll bring them over.”

　　“W-wait,” Kazuma warned, lifting his hands up. “There’s flour all over the place; you could trip—”

　　Too late; Taiyō had already stepped onto a particularly slippery surface, and the next thing everyone knew was Taiyō shrieking as Rive caught him mid-fall and one of the bags of flour flying across the room…

　　…Only to crash into an unfortunate redhead’s face.

_POOF!_

　　And now everything was in a disarray because holy cow, there was cream-colored dust spreading _everywhere_ , and Kazuma couldn’t see a single darn thing and he was coughing so hard that he might as well have thrown up a furball if he could.

　　When the clouds finally dissipated, Rive and Taiyō could only stare in awe and horror as Chrono emerged from the disaster, covered head to toe in milky white and his eyebrows twitching. Not even the iconic swirl in his hair was spared from the accidental onslaught.

　　Chrono lifted his hands to his face, blinked once, and groaned heavily. “Darn it…” he muttered, closing his green eyes as he lowered his hands and clenched his fists. “Why did it have to hit _me_ , of all people?”

　　“Oh, gosh…” Taiyō was nearly hyperventilating as he threw his hands to his mouth. “Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry, Chrono-san!” He was almost sobbing, the poor kid. “It was an accident, I swear!”

　　“It’s… It’s nothing…” the older boy managed to gasp, making futile attempts to calm Taiyō down. “It’s not your fault; all I’ll need to do is take a _long_ shower tonight…”

　　“Pfft…”

　　Chrono’s words trailed off when he heard that. He lifted his head, peeking through his bangs to see Kazuma’s reddening face as he clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle the odd sounds escaping from his throat.

　　Hold on, was that what Chrono thought he was hearing…?

　　Then Kazuma couldn’t take it anymore and threw back his head to cackle wildly, one hand clutching his stomach while the other pointed a shaky finger at Chrono’s direction. Taiyō and Rive stared at him like startled squirrels, while Chrono narrowed his eyes and lifted an eyebrow.

　　“Wait… _This_ makes you laugh?” he uttered.

　　“Oh… Oh, my gosh, Chrono…” Kazuma was running out of breath at this point. “Look at you…! You look like a snowman with a cinnamon roll on his head… Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”

_…Seriously?_

　　Rive chortled as well, and Taiyō scrunched up his face and shouted, “Hey, that’s not very nice of you, Kazuma-san!”

　　Kazuma probably didn’t even hear Taiyō complain; he was too busy trying not to pass out from his own laughter.

　　As Rive and Taiyō proceeded to pat Kazuma’s back (oh, he must have choked on his own saliva), a wave of complacency swept over Chrono.

_Huh. I guess I can make him laugh after all._

* * *

Shortly after Kazuma’s giggling fit, everyone had scrambled to make the kitchen as spick and span as possible so that there would be no evidence of the chaos that had already taken place, and Kazuma had ushered Chrono to the bathroom for a long-awaited shower. They wouldn’t want Mikuru to find out what happened; she was absolutely frightening when angry. All women were, according to Chrono.

　　Apparently, she had wept tears of joy when she was presented with a scrumptious feast of a dinner and a gorgeous cake for dessert, so it was better to save the flour incident story for another day.

　　As the Shindō family (along with Kazuma and Taiyō, who had stayed over) chowed down on the cake, Chrono whispered to Kazuma, “Well, did you have fun today?”

　　Kazuma scoffed, a wan but genuine smile on his lips. “I had to admit, it was quite _entertaining_.”

　　“What the heck, man? You still going to tease me about that?”

　　“Yep.” Then he glanced at Chrono, his eyes twinkling warmly. “But thanks, Chrono.”

　　“Hm?”

　　“I really had a great time.”

　　Oh. Chrono smiled to himself, taking and savoring a bite of his cake as his best friend’s words echoed in his mind. “Is that so?” He gave Kazuma a crooked grin. “Then we should do this more often.”

　　Outside, the dim starlight rained down upon the apartment, and Chrono had never felt so blissful.

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, Chrono and Kazuma deserve to be happy. The most recent episodes have been quite a train wreck. Why, Bushiroad, why?  
> P.S., the nickname “prof” alludes to the same nickname that Kazuma gave Chrono in the second episode of NEXT (先生, sensei).


End file.
